Misadventures in the Land of Fables #58
JACKDAW AND THE SONGBIRDS
Weeks elapsed between the first draft of the new fable, ‘Jackdaw and the Songbirds,’ and its completion. I had other commitments. And I also contrived to delete my website. But we’re back. In the interim, however, I had forgotten what had inspired the idea. Fortunately, I had kept some notes. The idea, it seems, was prompted by another of Elizabethan fabulist Arthur Golding’s translations.
‘Of the Ostrich and the Nightingale’ is a dispute about prestige and pre-eminence.
Two birds, the nightingale and the ostrich, hold themselves in such esteem neither can admit the other as their equal. The nightingale boasts its song has “assuaged the storms of lovers,” while the ostrich claims nations have used his feathers “for their ornament” as reward for bravery. To win the argument, the nightingale ‘defaces’ the ostrich of its feathers, proving that these were a superficial quality.
I have to say I didn’t expect the dispute to go in that direction. I assumed the author would favour the nightingale’s artistry because, this was my inclination, but instead this artist was portrayed as an arrogant little shit, and, well, that’s not unheard of. Still, I began to think of a nightingale’s music being challenged or resented, a scenario closer to Krylov’s ‘The Ass and the Nightingale,’ similar to one composed by Diderot; a denunciation of philistinism, I guess you might call it.
As dusk approaches, I can listen the blackbird sing from each corner of its territory. I also hear the raucous calls of rooks and jackdaws. The contrast is stark. I imagined a dispute, a difference of point of view between them, my old friend Jackdaw and the blackbird, but instead of competition between them, Jackdaw seeks to put one bird in its place by producing a rival. It doesn’t work out as he planned.
You can read the new fable here: ‘Jackdaw and the Songbirds’
Misadventures in the Land of Fables #75
ON ILLUSTRATING ~~~ When I write a new version of an old fable I can usually find a vintage illustration or three to add some visual appeal to my commentary. For an original, it’s not so easy. I can source an image of the animal protagonist—there’s a tradition of highly aesthetic, scientific illustration to draw […]
Misadventures in the Land of Fables #74
James Thurber’s ‘Further Fables For Our Times’ James Thurber’s second volume of modern fables offers more of the same whimsical, witty, and remarkably wide-ranging short narratives. Entertaining, but for those who like their fables to strike a more serious tone the collection is disappointing. Nothing sticks, nothing much. I was amused to see a version […]
Misadventures in the Land of Fables #73
James Thurber, ‘Fables For Our Times’ A few weeks ago I picked up a two volume collection of works by James Thurber, ‘Vintage Thurber.’ Among these works were the ‘Fables For Our Times.’ These were very nice. Fantastic, in the superlative if not the ‘wildly imaginative’ sense of the word. Where Ambrose Bierce is cynical […]
